2009 In Television: Gems

Our review of 2009 in television starts off with the positive side of things in 2009. Yes we know that a lot of shows were axed this year because of the recession but let’s try to look at the brighter side of things by remembering the good things about this year – the gems that television produced. Our look back starts with Law and Order UK and ends with The Queen.

Law and Order: UK – ITV1

Remakes of established shows are always a tricky affair and in the UK we are far more used to hearing about our shows being remade for American audiences than the other way around. So when ITV announced that it was remaking Law and Order for UK audiences critics were bound to be interested. How would they translate Law and Order for the UK when not only are audiences completely different but as are the legal systems in the two countries.

Thankfully the series managed to pull off the task thanks to good scripts and performances from regulars Jamie Bamber, Freema Agyeman, Bradley Walsh and others. On the downside ITV withheld six episodes for later in the year which have yet to air and dithered over whether or not to order a second season – they now have. But when will the rest of season one air we wonder?

A drama about Jack the Ripper [groan] and a modern-day copycat killer [groan] being investigated by a modern copper with a police team who think he’s nuts [groan] but slowly, and somewhat begrudgingly, come to respect and believe in him [groan]. The groans are because the concepts aren’t exactly original and how many Jack the Ripper dramas, documentaries and films can there be all going over the same details but with different conclusions at to whom was the serial killer. However, while some may have feared Whitechapel would turn out to be another dud in the ITV arsenal it was anything but with writers who clearly knew their stuff and performances from actors who were clearly enjoying having a good script to work from. Again the only downside is ITV dithered for so long as to whether or not to order another series, revolving around a different subject matter, when the ratings were so good!

Okay let’s be honest here; we weren’t impressed at all with The Next Doctor [just don’t even mention that bloody big Cyberman-thingy] and The Dead Planet didn’t thrill us either. While Dervla Kirwin and Michelle Ryan were the saving graces of their respective specials we were still left feeling somewhat disappointed especially given the lack of a full series of Who this year. Thankfully The Waters of Mars put that all right with a deeply creepy and unnerving story about…well water on Mars! The ever brilliant Lindsay Duncan put in another stellar performance and David Tennant was equally as good clearly enjoying exploring the Doctor’s darker side. The story was well written, creepy, scary and edge-of-your-seat stuff which is what I remember Doctor Who always being from my childhood – repeats on UKGold that is, I’m not that old! Yes not a farting alien or a bloody burping dustbin in sight instead pure TV gold and well worth the months and months of wait.

Merlin – BBC One

The second season of the fantasy drama series, Merlin, which established mythology surrounding the relationship between wizard Merlin and the legendary Arthur. The series depicts both characters as teenagers growing up in Camelot with Merlin as Arthur’s servant and secret protector in 

a kingdom where magic is punishable by death – by order of the tyrannical King Uther, Arthur’s father. Each week Camelot faces a new danger and problem which usually reinforces Uther’s idea that magic is evil even though Merlin secretly saves the day through the use of magic. The second series continued to build in story-arcs set up in the first season such as Morgana’s magic, Uther’s paranoia surrounding magic and the relationship between Gwen and Arthur. The show also featured its first two-part special where Sarah Parish guest-starred as a troll who puts a spell on King Uther and marries him – for the wealth of Camelot. Despite airing on Saturday evenings in a slot that is ever changing at the whim of the BBC the series once again pulled in consistent figures and thankfully the BBC has ordered another season! It would be nice with a third series if the BBC could pick a time-slot and stick to it though.

Skins – E4

Skins had perhaps a tougher job than most returning drama’s this year as its third series featured practically an entirely new cast as producers decided to axe the previous teenage cast and introduce a new ‘generation’. Fans were horrified at the thought of Maxxie, Chris and Tony disappearing from the screens to be replaced by a new cast of teens and we will admit it took some time to get used to the new characters. Effy, Tony’s sister, became the new central character with a new bunch of friends being attracted to her presence. There was the love triangle between Effy, Cook and Freddie which dominated most of the series and was the show’s central storyline but there were other storylines as well such as Pandora’s relationship with Thomas and the lesbian relationship between Emily and Naomi which was perhaps the shows most popular element. Bringing in a whole new cast into an established drama with a loyal following is no easy task and although there were bumps along the way Skins thankfully found itself again pretty quickly and we can’t wait for the fourth season. 

Torchwood: Children Of Earth – BBC One 

They killed of Ianto. That’s the only really negative thing we can say about the otherwise excellent five-part mini-series, Children of Earth. They actually killed off our favourite character, Ianto. This is after killing off Tosh at the end of season two. Torchwood now seems to be trying to top Blakes 7 as to how many regular cast members it can kill off. Blakes 7 pretty much killed off its entire cast by the end of its run so Torchwood has some way to go yet but then we know Jack can’t die no matter how many people try to kill him. On a serious note the five-part story was creepy and intriguing and the change of format worked well but did they have to kill of Ianto? I mean Rhys is there like a spare part crying out, in my opinion, for a decent killing off, so why Ianto? Still roll on season four. 

The one question on every Galactica fan’s lips was…how the frack are they going to end it? Would the Cylons kill everyone? Would the rag-tag fleet descend into civil war and everyone would die? Would god turn up and kill everyone? Basically we were all wondering how everyone would die because let’s face it from the most brutal and pessimistic series ever we weren’t expecting a happy ending. We were expecting a blood bath. Galactica had, over its four seasons, killed off heaps of characters before; Kat, Elosha, Jammer, Admiral Cain, Cally and Dualla to name but a few and as season four drew to a close we saw Gaeta, Tom Zarek and the entire quorum killed in a failed up-rising so you can’t blame us for naturally suspecting everyone was gonna die. The finale of Galactica gave us an almighty and epic battle between the dying Galactica and the mighty of the remaining Cylon forces with original series style Centurions fighting their modern counter-parts – there were cries of OMG when this happened from those of us watching. Then what do we get? A happy ending of sorts! They find Earth, our Earth, 150,000 years ago and decide to settle and destroy all their technology. What the frack? It’s an ending that divided fan opinion but we don’t mind admitting that when Laura died on Earth next to Adama we cried.

Jam & Jerusalem – BBC One 

Fantastic comedy penned by Jennifer Saunders with a fantastic cast – where else could you see Dawn French, Sue Johnston, Maggie Steed, Jennifer Saunders and Pauline McLynn all together in the same scene? While not a huge ratings puller Jam and Jerusalem is still immense fun revolving around the Women’s Guild of Clatterford and all the politics and drama that come out of the various situations the women find themselves in. This year we only had three hour-long episodes to keep us going but they were still good. The ladies got in a tizz over the prospect of Charles Dance moving to the village while the vicar and Kate started to date but along with the comedy was the poignant moment when Saunder’s character got a message from her son who was serving in the army. Funny one moment and moving the next, Jam and Jerusalem is a real treat and we want it back next year with more episodes. 

The Queen – Channel Four 

Documentary-drama series that examined five key points during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II; from personnel crisis to ones of national and international importance. Well written with a brilliant line-up of actress’ portraying the monarch at the various points in her reign [Emilia Fox, Samantha Bond, Susan Jameson, Barbara Flynn and Diana Quick] the series was an insightful look at the crisises the Queen faced over the years. It also revealed how different things are in the modern world and how, over the past fifty years, the country and society has changed so much. The first and last episodes document this so well as Princess Margaret’s relationship with Peter Townsend threatened to cause scandal because he was divorced but Charles’ relationship with Camilla Parker-Bowles, her a divorcee, being accepted by the public in the end. The episode we were most looking forward to was the one set during the 1980s and dealt with The Queen’s clashes with Margaret Thatcher [superbly played by Lesley Manville] over how to deal with South Africa and its apartheid regime. The Queen favoured economic sanctions but Thatcher preferred a quieter and softer approach. As the two exchanged polite sniping remarks its all too easy to imagine the scene as real.